Reviews by amzman

amzman says "HP Products are CRAP, lied to about system - found years later" about Hewlett Packard Pavilion Desktop 9720 desktop computer

amzman — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:12:11 GMT

I bought this PC back in the last 90's when it was top of the line and you could build your own system at Circuit City for about $3500. I basically was lied to and discovered this recently when I made enquiries about the Max RAM I could have in the system. When I purchased it I was told it was the next generation of RAM that was about to take off and performed 30% faster than other RAM at the time, and that I could put up to 4GB or RAM into my system. I recently found out from HP that this system was ONLY tested for 512MB of RAM even though the Motherboard appears to be able to handle 4GB of RAM.

Back then RAM was VERY Expensive and even today the type of RAM for this system is VERY Expensive and I only purchased a 512MB to add to my existing 128MB of RAM, this should give you a time perspective compared to what systems cost and are loaded with today. My system did work faster when I added the 512MB of RAM but the system is VERY slow today with all the Memory intensive applications...

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amzman says "Cheap Coffeemaker, warmer rusts and doesn't keep coffee hot" about Proctor Silex 12-cup Coffee Maker

amzman — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 07:24:16 GMT

I got a Proctor Silex Coffee Maker at Big Lots, after breaking my glass Carife on my old Coffe Maker. A lot of the expensive Coffee Maker's at Bed Bath & Beyond are made poorly and NOT worth the hundreds of dollars you have to pay for them, and I can't afford to buy a $600 fancy Coffee Maker even though I'd love a good quality affordable one.

So I'm a cost conscious buyer who wants something simple, i.e. can brew a pot of coffee when I need it. Unfortunately this Coffee Maker is crap, it's warmer rusted within weeks of use and it doesn't really keep the coffee hot. I usully have to warm up the coffee in the Microwave after a short period of time outside of the pot, so it's either suck it down fast or Nuking it for a warm up.

My previous brand was Proctor Silex as well which is why I went for it again, but it surely doesn't hold up to my older model and smaller cup producing Coffee Maker.

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amzman says "Discontinued Basic DVR to record TV, Movies, and more" about Slyvania - DVR91DG

amzman — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:28:59 GMT

I bought this Slyvania from Big Lots during their Black Friday sale for $45 so I could create DVDs directly from my DV Camcorder without having to load the crap on my slow computer to do it. It's a very Basic and likely early DVR which was probably way overpriced upon release and now likely on liquidation sale or clearance, if you can even find it as I'm sure it's discontinued. Unfortunately the documentation and box lies as it states it supports both DVD- and DVD+ type media, this is completely false and likely was one of the ones who did this early on and were busted for it. It ONLY supports DVD- media and does NOT support DVD+ media, so make sure to get your DVD- media. Additionally you don't have any cool features to customize the DVD so ALL you get is a list of recorded videos on a blue screen.

So if you don't care for all that snazzy artisticy customization of your DVDs and just want to get your Videos onto DVD from your TIVO, S Video, or A/V connectable device then this...

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amzman says "Best Guide Features but Packaging costs and Channels Suck" about Dish network

amzman — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:48:40 GMT

I've been a DISH Network customer for almost a decade now and things have changed quite a bit over time. They used to be a wonderful company with great customer service but that's gone to shit over the past few years with their use of out sourcing to countries such as India with uncooperative and incompetent idiots who read steps from a book, even if you are tech savvy and know what you are talking about. I'm more familiar with their equipment and trouble shooting than 95% of their customer service now a days. Their Programming packaging is Horrible, as an example I am a BIG Hockey fan and although I had their 200 Channel package which costs $48/month outside of their other nickel and dime costs like $6 for local channels, $6 DVR Service fee, and $5 additional receiver fees I still did NOT receive Versus. So I have to pay an additional $10 to upgrade to their 250 Channel package just to get VERSUS. Then I find out that that package does NOT include NHL Network which has swindled...

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amzman says "Low End Poor Quality Limited Use AVI Video producing Camcorder" about Jazz DV151 Camcorder

amzman — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:27:40 GMT

I bought my JAZZ DV 151 from Big Lots for $28 on one of their sales initially to create a 60 second video to submit to the Island Reef Job in Austrailia. What I discovered is this thing sucks through it's AA batteries in less than 30 minutes of use which is ridiculous. I even tried using Lithium batteries and it sucked through that more quickly than the regular batteries. So I only recommend this product if you can buy it for $5 or less and have Re-chargeable AA batteries, which I have NOT tried yet myself but suspect may work better with this product. Don't expect to be able to record anything in High Resolution Setting longer than 10 minutes using a 2GB SD Card, haven't tried the low Resolution setting but suspect the quality would be so bad it wouldn't be worth shooting in Low setting with todays HD technology. Videos record in AVI format which is VERY Memory intensive, thus poor use of SD Memory card. Supposed Max Memory Card size you can use with this Product Model is 4GB. ...

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